# Immortal Guitar Player that didn't Sing **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 22, 2002, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186 "2002-07-22T07:23:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/1 "2002-07-22T07:23:43Z")
Does he/she exist? Many years from now, those who are inclined to do so, will sing the praises of Hendrix, SRV, Robert Johnson, and a myriad of others who played guitar and sang. It is my contention that, no matter how good you pick that gitter, if you don’t also sing, they won’t remember you. Which leads me to my question: Name a guitar player who didn’t sing who has a chance in hell of making it to the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame. ---
**Author:** ![HoldenCaulfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/22d042/32.png) [@HoldenCaulfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoldenCaulfield)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/2 "2002-07-22T07:32:20Z")
Santana. ---
**Author:** ![Silvio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Silvio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvio)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/3 "2002-07-22T08:10:07Z")
Jimmy Page Jeff Beck Mick Taylor ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/4 "2002-07-22T08:15:52Z")
What about Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane? ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/5 "2002-07-22T08:17:08Z")
Damn, as soon as I posted my above message I remembered that he wrote and sings one of my favorite JA songs, **Star Track**. ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/6 "2002-07-22T08:25:13Z")
Tony Iommi? I’m not a guitarist, but people seem pretty impressed by him. What about Jimmy Page? ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/7 "2002-07-22T08:26:43Z")
If it wasn’t so far past my bedtime, I probably would have noticed that **Silvio** already suggested Jimmy Page. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/8 "2002-07-22T09:21:01Z")
Dick Dale **virtually** never sings. And I think the spirit of the OP would include guitarists who weren’t known for their singing and just happened to try a vocal once in a blue moon. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/9 "2002-07-22T10:38:26Z")
I replied to the double-post of this thread. **HoldenCaulfield** posted Santana first. Duane Allman \* Jeff Beck \* Steve Kropper \* Pat Matheny Edward Van Halen Larry Carlton \* Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter \* Robby Krieger \* - - already in for at least one band. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/10 "2002-07-22T10:58:18Z")
[Les Paul](http://www.beacham.com/paul/paul_radio.html) and as I don’t know “Gibson’s” first name I headed on over to [Gibson’s site](http://www.gibson.com/pure/features/features2.html) where they are wishing a happy 50th birthday to the Les Paul Guitar! If you click on the Gibson-pure Logo on the right, one of several snapshots with a caption come up. One is: “LYRICS. WASTED TIME BETWEEN SOLOS.” ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/11 "2002-07-22T11:32:32Z")
Kirk Hammett. May not be super technical, but he has some of the most memorable metal riffs and solo’s ever created. ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/12 "2002-07-22T11:44:21Z")
Keith Richards. Yngwie Malmsteen. Steve Vai. Tom Morello Ed O’brien. (later on, maybe) Is there a link to the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame listings…Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![RTA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/13 "2002-07-22T12:32:43Z")
Alex Lifeson (Rush has been eligible for the R&R HOF for several years now, but they keep getting “overlooked”.) ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/14 "2002-07-22T12:36:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Aro \* > \*\*Keith Richards. > Yngwie Malmsteen. > Steve Vai. > Tom Morello > Ed O’brien. (later on, maybe) > > Is there a link to the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame listings…Cheers. \*\* I don’t know if I ever see Tom Morello getting into the RRHoF. He hasn’t really done much to stand out. He makes lots’o noises. Lots of bands do that now. ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/15 "2002-07-22T12:43:07Z")
Maybe. Have you seen him play? I guess either its ‘just noise’ or it’s a new way to look at expanding guitar playing, similar to how Van Halen brought new techniques to the genre. But still its a very subjective thing. I just put him in there 'cause I like RaTM. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/16 "2002-07-22T12:44:01Z")
Django Reinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Delta-9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3be4f8/32.png) [@Delta-9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delta-9)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/17 "2002-07-22T13:45:42Z")
I’d just like to add **Joe Satriani** to the list. And **Kieth Richards** does “sing”. Sort of. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/18 "2002-07-22T14:27:22Z")
It’s already been done. To the best of my knowledge, Duane Eddy never sang on a record he released. He sold over 100 million recordings of guitar instrumentals in the late ‘50’s and throughout the ‘60’s. A number of these were Rock ‘n’ Roll top ten hits. Eddy was inducted into the R & R hall of fame in 1994. For further info, check it out [here](http://members.tripod.com/~Tony50/deddy-1.html) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/19 "2002-07-22T14:32:24Z")
Well, I don’t know how good the chances of ANY “progressive rock” guitarist are of getting into the Hall of Fame, but Robert (King Crimson) Fripp and Steve (Yes) Howe are superb guitarists who don’t sing. And I can think of numerous guitarists who aren’t necessarily virtuosos, but who play lead guitar in bands that will PROBABLY make the Hall one day: Angus (AC/DC) Young Andy (The Police) Summers Dave “The Edge” (U2) Evans ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186/20 "2002-07-22T15:18:32Z")
Oh… a few other maybes come to mind. Some are acclaimed, some weren’t, some have a sho at the Hall of Fame, some don’t) but all sold a lot of records: Ritchie Blackmore (or is Deep Purple already in?) Neil Schon of Journey Elliott Easton of the Cars Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick Brian May of Queen (again… are they already in?) And a few guys come to mind who ARE already in the Hall of Fame: Joe Perry of Aerosmith Robbie Krieger of the Doors Dave Davies of the Kinks [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-guitar-player-that-didnt-sing/120186.md?page=2)